Judge grants divorce after hearing through Skype

In a rare instance, a local court of Khammam has granted divorce to a couple after hearing one of the petitioners over Internet video calling facility Skype.

Senior Civil Judge of Khammam M Venkata Ramana, based on a recent judgement of Hyderabad High Court, used Skype to interact with the woman who was in the US, before granting divorce.

According to Basava Punnaiah, counsel for the woman, her client had requested the court to grant her divorce from Kiran Kumar.

She has been staying in the US for the past two years and could not attend the court hearing on Saturday.

“First the Judge asked my client to identify her father and her husband (now ex-husband) through Skype. After she did, he asked the final opinion about the divorce for which she said she wanted. Based on that, the judge granted divorce,” the counsel told PTI.

The couple was married in 2012 and soon after differences cropped up between them.

The man filed ‘Nullity of Marriage’ petition in the court while the woman had filed a petition under IPC Section 498 (A) (domestic violence).

The woman then moved to the US to pursue higher studies and later both the families came to an understanding. The couple filed a divorce with mutual consent petition in the court, the counsel said.

“She gave power of attorney to her father. However, in divorce cases, the court would like to hear both petitioners personally. As she is in USA and not able to attend the court, we filed a petition requesting the court to hear her version through Skype, for which the judge agreed,” Ms Punnaiah said.

The judge used a laptop to interact with the petitioner and passed decree of divorce on Saturday, he added.